Chapter 244: Chapter 201 Fear (4K)_2
"The ’Uncanny Valley’ theory is based on the same principle."
"In other words, an animal’s innate fear is the fear of the unknown, the fear of things that are different."
"If you were to show a large model of a hippo to Great Apes that have never seen a real hippo, they too would likely experience a sense of fear."
"What? How do you explain that mice are naturally afraid of cats?"
"To be precise, mice aren’t born fearing cats but rather react to certain smells and sounds associated with cats, such as saliva, cat urine, and meows. When they smell cat urine, the mouse’s endocrine system automatically kicks into gear, increasing the mouse’s anxiety and compelling it to move away to avoid potential encounters with cats."
"And if you were to use genetic engineering to edit specific mouse genes, making the mice unresponsive to particular proteins in cat pheromones, then they would no longer display stress reactions. They wouldn’t even feel fear in the presence of a live cat."
"The case with Toxoplasma is the same. Mice infected with Toxoplasma become indifferent to cat pheromones, even seeking contact with cats in the hope of being eaten, thus allowing the Toxoplasma to continue spreading."
"So, innate fear is just an automatic reaction of the brain."
"Then, is it possible to overcome innate fears or even to completely stop feeling fear?"
"That’s a good question."
"There are methods, yes. One way is to use genetic engineering, like what was done with the mice, to knock out specific genes. However, humans are different from mice. Over a long evolutionary history, mice have randomly mutated corresponding DNA that increased their chances of survival—hence a higher probability of passing this DNA to their offspring, optimizing it over generations to form a unique ’ability.’"
"As for humans... it seems that in the million years of evolution of the Terror upright ape, we haven’t encountered any predators terrifying enough to trigger an uncontrollable fear from specific smells or sounds."
"Another method is to interfere with the brain."
"Emotions are essentially the brain’s way of entertaining itself. The area controlling emotion is known as the limbic system. This system includes the hippocampus, hippocampal gyrus, Internal Olfactory Area, Dentate gyrus, cingulate gyrus, Nipple Body, and the amygdala, among others."
"The amygdala, in particular, controls the emotion of fear. If you were to remove the amygdala from a Macaque, it would lose the ability to feel fear forever. It would no longer fear snakes, stronger members of its group, nor dread climbing to high places—even heights that could be fatal."
"In another case, a woman with a rare genetic disorder called ’lipoprotein pigmentosis’ had bilateral amygdala deterioration or atrophy in her brain. Because of this disease, the patient did not feel any fear. Watching horror films, entering haunted houses, being held at gunpoint, seeing an unknown shadow outside her window, nothing disturbed her calm."
"Theoretically, such patients, along with those who have had their amygdalas removed, could be considered the closest to personifying the literal meaning of ’fearlessness’ in the world..."
Memories gradually faded away, and Chai Chai opened her eyes, exhaling deeply.
Li Ang often talked to her about things she couldn’t understand and couldn’t comprehend, but she had never pondered why he knew so much about various peculiar things. She just chalked it up to the idea that "the young master is a genius."
In Chai Chai’s small world, Li Ang was the smartest and most capable person. Not even an innate Saint was as capable as he was.
Chai Chai had believed this in the past, believed it in the present, and would continue to believe it in the future.
And her task was to utilize the information from the fragments of Li Ang’s speech to pass this final examination.
Fear originates from the amygdala. It’s the amygdala that detects specific information, triggering the secretion of various hormones, causing the heart to race, palms to sweat, and blood pressure to rise, involuntarily prompting one to flee or freeze.
To overcome the Illusion Realm, the most fundamental approach would be to remove the amygdala, considering that injuries within the Illusion Realm wouldn’t transfer to reality. But I can’t do it alone—after all, the young master never pointed out the precise location of the amygdala.
So, the only method left is to block the fear response.
How can that be achieved... When the amygdala is stimulated, it begins to command the body to trigger rapid hormonal secretion unless you strip away the five senses, essentially preventing yourself from receiving any fearful stimuli at the source.
The young master seemed to have mentioned a way to strip away the five senses: cover your own eyes and lie in a pool of warm water made of highly concentrated saltwater. Floating on the surface, not listening, not seeing, all senses would gradually diminish until reaching a state of pure emptiness.
But there are no such conditions in the Illusion Realm. Is there warm water and salt there...?
The dilemma had returned to its starting point.
Chai Chai’s brow was tightly furrowed as she desperately pondered a countermeasure.
Strip away the five senses, shield against fear...
Vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch. In the Illusion Realm, external stimuli are few and far between. There are only light and darkness.
"Could it be..."
A glint of realization shone in Chai Chai’s eyes as she slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air and picked up the Wolf Brush from the table.
The Illusion Realm struck once more, and she found herself beneath the light, facing the vast, sea-like darkness around her.
If I’m not mistaken, the darkness is not the direct source of fear. There’s nothing there. No visual, auditory, olfactory, or tactile stimuli.
What truly triggers the fear within me is the light overhead.
She raised her head, gazing up at the warm, peaceful circular column of light as if to see through it to the thing within the brightness.
RIP.
Accompanied by the sound of cloth tearing, Chai Chai used a hairpin to cut a corner from her clothes. She wrapped several thick pieces of cloth around the soles of her shoes, covered her eyes, and also stuffed her ears and nose.
To isolate fear, I need to block out the five senses.
She tied the cloth pieces tightly, not caring about the pain in her eyes and ears, and took a deep breath, silently waiting for the darkness to come.
One breath, two breaths, three breaths.
She counted silently. Since the circular column of light contracted at a consistent rate, she could use her breathing to calculate the time it would take for it to retract completely.
It was almost time.
Her eyes were covered by cloth, unable to see even a sliver of light. A strong voice within begged her to remove the blindfold and take a look at the outside environment.
She blocked out all distractions and took a step forward.
Unable to hear her own footsteps, and with the soft cloth wrapped around her shoe soles, she couldn’t even feel herself taking steps forward; she only "felt" herself controlling her legs to move.
The second step, the third step.
She strictly controlled her pace, and finally, on the hundredth step, her hand suddenly felt a cold touch.
It was the shaft of the Wolf Brush.
Her lips slightly pursed, she gripped the brush and, in absolute darkness, assumed the posture of writing, and calmly wrote down her own name.
Chai Cuiqiao.